Peelers Aren't Just for Peeling

In the test kitchen, we don’t just use peelers for trimming vegeetables; we also shave and thinly slice foods like hard cheeses, summer squashes, small potatoes, and chocolate.

To make the shaved fennel for Smoked Salmon Rolls, trim and cut a fennel bulb into quarters. Remove most of the core and then run your peeler down one of the cut sides. Keep shaving until you can no longer safely hold onto the piece of fennel. Toss extra fennel shavings into salads.

For the chocolate shavings needed to make a Black Forest Trifle, run the peeler over the edge of a block of chocolate. For larger shavings and curls, warm the chocolate a bit, either by rubbing it with the palm of your hand or by microwaving it very briefly, about five seconds at a time. The warmer the chocolate, the larger the curls will be. To make it easier to grip and to keep your hand clean, you can hold the chocolate block with a paper towel.